Package for butter or similar material



(No Model.)

S. SMYTI-I. m PAGKAGE FOR BUTTER 0R SIMILAR MATERIAL. No. 385,075.-

Patented June 26, 188B.

UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

SAMUEL SMYTH, OF PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 885,075, dated June 26, 11888.

Application filed February 23, 1888. Serial No. 264,931. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, SAMUEL SMYTH, of Pittston, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Packages for Butter or Similar Materials, of which the following is a specification.

Packages for butter are preferably made of wood, so as to retain more or less of the salt, which acts to preventthe surface of the butter becoming rancid. Square or cylindrical packages of wood with removable heads have heretofore been made; but they have been expensive and are not well adapted to being taken apart for the removal of the contents or for packing into a small compass for shipping the empty packages.

In my present improvement I make use of a wooden package composed of four similar slats set together to form a package which is cylindrical, or nearly so, in its inner surface, so as to be adapted to receive a roll of butter, and the slats composing the package are held together tightly by end hoops driven upon the tapering end portions of the package, and there are heads in the form of short plugs or bungs inserted to close the package.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end view of one slat made use of by mein formingthe package. Fig. 2 is an end view of the package complete, and Fig. 3 shows a portion of the exterior of the package at one end.

Each slat A is made from apiece of wood of the shape indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the same being planed or otherwise dressed to the shape represented by the full lines, thein terior surface thereof being concave and the edges 3 4 radially inclined to each other and upon a plane passing through the center from which the are 2 is described. In the edge 4 is a groove, 5, and at the other edge, 3, the rib 6 projects, and it is of a size and shape to fit into the groove 5 of the next slat. These slats are preferably quarter-circle slats but five or six slats may be made use of instead of four. In preparing these slats for use it is preferable to nail two slats together, as shown at 7 8, so that the package only separates at the lines 10 11, so as not to have so many pieces to be handled in opening and closing the package, and it will be apparent that the interlockingribs 6 and grooves 5 prevent the radial sur face from slipping out of place while the nails are being inserted, as at 7 and 8. Wooden dowels or pegs may take the place of nails. It is generally preferable to connect and hold these. separable portions of the package together by the end hoops, O, that are driven upon the end portions of the package where the wood has been removed, as shown at 13, to form the conical or tapering ends, so that the hoops when driven thereupon will firmly clamp the slats together.

The hoops O are preferably made of galvanized-iron wire, the ends being firmly united together by loops or by twisting the wires around each other. These loops are strong and cheap and they are easily driven into place for tightening the package or removed to open the same.

After the hoops C have been driven to place, one head D is inserted, the same being in the form of a wooden disk or bung driven into place and preferably secured by double'pointed tacks E, driven in as shown in Fig. 2. The package can then be stood upon one'cnd ready for the butter to be inserted at the open upper end. The butter or similar material may be molded and made up into a roll of a size nearly corresponding with the interior of the package and be inserted between the connected slats or separable portions forming the package and pressed down until the package is entirely full, after which it is closed by another bung or head D, driven into the open end and secured by double-pointed tacks, which makes the package complete and ready for market. This package is very convenient in use, because to give access to the contents of the package it is only necessary to drive off the hoop O and separate one-half of the package from the other upon the line 10 11, and the butter can be reached, and, if desired, be cut off in short sections, and, being circular, it is adapted to being placed upon a butter-plate for use without requiring to be worked up into shape by hand.

The halves of the empty packages can be placed compactly for transportation, and they can be used a second time or more by simply washing or scalding the same to cleanse the surface, remove any particles of butter, and moisten the wood ready for filling the package again for market.

I claim as my invention- 1. The butter-package body made of slats, the inner surfaces of which are concave, the edges beveled upon radial planes, and provided with tongues and grooves upon the respective edges, so as to set together and form a a concave inner surface, so as to form an open cylinder when set together, the edges of the slats being tongued and grooved and the exterior surface beveled near the ends, in combination with movable hoops driven upon such beveled ends to hold the slats firmlytogether,

substantially as set forth.

4. A butter-package body having two separable halves, each half being composed of two or more longitudinal slats tongued and grooved on the edges and fastened together, substantially as specified.

Signed by me this 16th day of February, 1888.

SAMUEL SMYTH.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINOKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT. 

